A Washington District Court judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought against Washington State Employees Credit Union regarding its overdraft practices, marking one of the first major decisions in a string of at least 17 lawsuits brought against credit unions across the country since September 2015.
In a short, three-page decision issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle stated that too many potential plaintiffs living in the same state triggered an exception to the U.S. Class Action Fairness Act, which means federal courts can’t hear the case.
“WSECU has shown that Wodja’s claims meet this exception because 90% of the members of the alleged class reside in Washington and WSECU’s principal place of business is in Washington. Wodja failed to respond to this argument, which the Court considers as an admission that the argument has merit,” the judge wrote. “Moreover, WSECU has sufficiently shown that the Court should decline to exercise jurisdiction over this alleged class action.”
Plaintiff Todd Wodja first filed suit against WSECU almost one year ago, claiming the credit union charged overdraft fees on transactions even though there was enough money in his checking account, thereby breaching the terms of its opt-in agreement.
Olympia, Wash.-based WSECU has $2.5 billion in assets and 243,000 members and the attorney for the credit union asked the court to dismiss the case earlier this year, which the court partially granted and partially denied in June.
Today’s order leaves room for the plaintiff to sue in state court, according to the judge.
“The case is in an early stage of the proceedings, especially in light of the class action nature of the matter. If Wodja refiles in state court, neither the discovery nor his efforts in researching his class action issues will be wasted,” Judge Settle wrote.
McCuneWright and The Kick Law Firm did not respond to requests for comment. WSECU’s attorney, Tim Filer, also did not respond to requests for comment. WSECU declined to comment.
